#as well as still a decent amount of existing support

[goldensunset]

the fact that kikuo is currently not only releasing new music but also uploading old songs and giving them official mvs on the main channel at last has me so happy... the new stuff is great and the old long-forgotten bangers are gaining new recognition so i'm like. ok keep this trend up and give us official mvs for more of these songs please keep going i'm tired of being one of like five people who appreciate a given song

#huge moment for weird little freaks with badgood taste in music (me) #can we get an mv for lie lie lie... that one is so underrated #also an mv for red ridinghood's wolf although there are fan mvs for that one #as well as still a decent amount of existing support #peach rambles #who was i before i discovered vocaloid/all these jpn producers etc etc #even if i am in somewhat of a niche #but who's judging #oh and i also need more support for waltz of malice and desert theater ESPECIALLY the last one hhhhhh #but both of those already have mvs and are on kikuo's channel so it's not like they're gonna be reuploaded #licherally i'm obsessed with those songs they deserve the same recognition as love me love me love me

[beyondthisdarkhouse]

What is the Tumblr kokobot mental health thing and why does it keep messaging me when I go into various mental health/neurodivergent tags? I'm generally looking for community and I don't appreciate this site deciding I am In Danger. You're a therapist and I feel like you've probably talked about mental health apps before so thought I'd ask

Uuuugh, that thing. I think I blocked it a couple months back. BUT, I'm going to be as fair to it as I can.

The part you and I bumped into is their automated chatbot, which monitors traffic on social media sites to detect people having mental health crises and try to convince them to access mental health support. Apparently their bot got good enough at detecting human behaviour patterns online that they actually spun it off into a separate company for a while and then sold their tech to a corporation, before returning to the mental health idea. They returned to it, critically, as a non-profit, which is why I'm willing to give it a second look at all.

tl;dr: I would not immediately warn everyone away from using it! Which is more than I could say for a lot of Silicon Valley mental health startups. I don't love the current implementation, but I think they might have the makings of a decent mutual aid platform for temporary moments of stress.

Long version below

Like, I was not a fan at all of Trill when Tumblr partnered with it, because I felt that they were using well-intentioned volunteers to do potentially harrowing and dangerous work without adequate training or support. (Or not-so-great volunteers, since I was dubious about their vetting process) And a lot of Kokobot's origin story is in some ways really similar to Trill.

Most of these startups and initiatives mean well. They want to make the world better and help provide comfort and support to people who need that. I admire them for their dedication to a good cause. However, I believe that when you are devoting significant resources to building a system where you ask people to choose you for support in their moments of vulnerability, you cannot put your intentions ahead of their needs.

Like: It is really great that people want to help the less-fortunate. I think it shows warmth of heart to want to go somewhere and build homes for the homeless. But if you've never built a house before, and the houses you build are so poorly constructed that they fall down or catch fire or whatever, and they wouldn't have if you'd put the equivalent amount of money into hiring local out-of-work carpenters to do the work properly, I don't think you should keep operating like that as a charity.

I'm also judging Koko a bit as the former teenager who wanted to help people, in terms of how much they provide guidance and support to the helpers they've recruited.

Finally, I feel the need to remind all of us, as useless as such reminders feel, that if you are not paying for a social media platform, you aren't a customer; you are the product. "Kokobot", the organization, the platform, the AI, are not the core producers of its value. Its users are. Without people in distress to whom to provide support, and without supportive people there in times of distress, it would not exist.

Maybe this will never be an issue. Maybe this conflict will never arise. Maybe the nonprofit organization will be devoted enough to the needs of its userbase that they will serve them faithfully and well. I hope so.

I'm just... jaded, by things I've seen before.

What I don't like at all:

It took me a lot of work to go from looking up Kokobot on Tumblr to understanding how the company worked, what using the app was like, and whether their work was being informed by anyone with a lick of knowledge about mental health care. I still don't know a lot of stuff about how they handle anonymity in situations like imminent suicide or homicide, or abuses of the platform.

Kokobot messaging people out of the blue is creepy as hell. My first response was, "Fuck off, I can TELL you're not ethical." Most ethical guidelines I know of for mental health therapists explicitly forbid directly soliciting clients ("Hey there, I can tell you've got a few issues. Here's my card"), especially when people appear psychologically vulnerable or in distress. The only wiggle room there is when you're working in disaster relief and crisis intervention, but that does not make it an "anything goes" situation.

@kokobot posting lots of testimonials from users about how great their service is. Again, something usually strictly forbidden by ethical standards! When someone has just come to you in distress and you've provided them help, and then ask them to give you a Yelp review, you're not usually going to get thoughtful, measured, and informed feedback. It's a weird power dynamic that might be great advertising, but not great informed consent.

While Koko might be a legit company that does its job well, its presence and behaviour opens up the field of what is acceptable behaviour on social media. If one app can track mental health tags and solicit vulnerable people into joining their group, why not another? What will stop Scientology (which has done this in person for decades) from creating a similar app, pitching it to people in need, and coaching its users to go off all their psychiatric medications and use pseudoscience instead? Where are the safeguards?

What's Not Terrible

Kokobot is clunky and weird, but like I said on my post on Trill, the hardest part of moderation on social media is the amount of labour it takes, and the human cost of that labour. It seems to me that by using AI, Koko might have found an efficient way to automate much of that labour.

I tried out the actual app itself, messaging on Telegram; for my "problem", I just said I was concerned that a friend was messaging Koko a lot and I wanted to make sure it was legit. Sending it out required answers to some pretty vital questions—did I feel hopeful or hopeless about the world? What kinds of best- or worst-case scenarios was I imagining? They were worded in a way that felt human and genuine, and the chatbot was responsive and encouraging before my problem ever got human eyes on it.

(For the record: These are questions that can very quickly give information on whether someone is likely to be a danger to themselves or anyone else, which are really important.)

Then, at the bot's suggestion, I also helped a couple other people, where I was given very rough and ready training on active listening, then coached into writing a response. It avoided a lot of on-ramps to community toxicity, inasmuch as the problems and replies were private and anonymous, and there were instant feedback options if anything was worrying or upsetting.

This process showed what I think was a more sophisticated and useful implementation of AI than, uh....... like 99% of the AI I've seen. This is mostly a statement on the state of AI, but still. Koko seems like the bot's responses were really carefully workshopped and designed by actual humans who knew about crisis intervention and risk assessment.

The replies I got to my "problem" were fairly good, empathetic and genuine. (The bot encourages people to be a little dorky, and seeing an auto-generated response I myself was suggested made me roll my eyes; this could reduce the value for some people.)

I can definitely see the benefit of encouraging people who are feeling distressed to help others. Engaging in peer support encourages empathy, and helps people feel like they've got something to offer, and that problems might be solvable.

In the end, Kokobot is an expansion of the kind of work volunteer-run distress and crisis hotlines do. It has the potential to do a lot of good, but the organization itself has to consider so many other factors and processes than its users do. I sincerely hope it and Tumblr are being extremely thoughtful and careful in how they handle this work.

I would be delighted to be proven wrong, and have them turn out to be totally amazing. I really hope they do.

#suicide discussion tw #mental health #kokobot

[writingwithfolklore]

I feel horrible for using paraphraser tools to enhance my writing. If i don't use it then i kinda hate my writing. Please help.

Hi there.

I'm so sorry you feel this way! The first thing you should do is take a step back and breathe. You're not a bad writer, and you're not a bad person for using AI tools. Read that over until you begin to believe it.

I want you to feel happy and proud of your writing as it is, so let's work on that piece.

I don't think there's many writers out there that are completely happy with their work. I have times when I'm writing that I think I must be the worst writer in the world. Writing is so contained and individual--it's not like getting better at basketball until you can almost always guarantee a basket. There's nothing to really tell you you're getting better, or that your writing is 'good'.

That makes it difficult--it also means we have to rely on our own intuition to give us the answers, and your brain is always going to be so much harder on your work than anyone else.

So even if you can't yet say 'it's good', try saying 'it's not as bad as I think'. And remember that no matter how 'bad' you think it is, it can always get better--every draft you do will be better.

For more practical suggestions on feeling more confident in your work, I have to suggest something scary: share it with others--but with others you trust, who you know will support you. As scary as it is, sharing my drafts with others helps me feel much prouder of it, and also gives me agency in making it better. As well, if you trade work with other writers around your experience level, you can see how writing differs--and how that doesn't make one better or worse.

My writing friend and I have been writing for about the same amount of time and have been trading work for over a decade now. She's so ingrained in my writing journey, and yet we write wildly different things in wildly different styles. Her work isn't better or worse than mine, just different.

My other suggestion is to write what you love, and to not put any pressure on it. Write for fun, for yourself. Write like no one will ever read it, and then share it anyway. Write like the ideas are more important than the words. Try not to analyze it to death, just let it breathe, and let it be what it is. There will be time later for editing and scaling back if you want. Or not. Up to you.

Then, acknowledge the parts of your writing that you really love--the things you know you've got down. Celebrate the sentences that come out good, and forgive the sentences you don't love as much. Sometimes it helps me to pretend my writing is another living thing--like a child or a beloved pet, so you can look at it in all its flaws and still think it's the greatest thing you've ever done.

Writing does not have to be perfect to be good--it just has to exist and be loved.

And for now, if leaving your writing as it is without using tools makes you feel horrible enough to give up--keep using the tools. Work on using them a little bit less and less with every piece. Remember what I said about telling yourself it isn't as bad as your brain says it is--then graduate to: 'it's decent', 'it's getting there', 'it's good,' 'it's amazing'.

And let me know how it goes. (If you ever want/need to share your work with someone positive and supportive, you can always share it with me--just send me a DM)

Good luck!

#ask box

[nitewrighter]

Hello (there is a prompt at the end of this I promise)

I had a dream about Gency and it reminded me of you bc I used to love love LOVE Gency (still do!) and your fics are so well written and I am so sad that Blizzard fucked up overwatch (and it’s lore kinda?) over the last couple years :(

Also the way they removed a bunch of Gency interactions and are kinda like..changing their relationship dynamic? And the line in the biography story mode thing about how mercy was genjis cyberneticist?? even though she previously was never mentioned to like… do that stuff and that kinda reframes how they interacted pre-fall and its a minor thing but it really just grinds my gears :(

(I pretend it is not canon because i know overwatch better that the current OW2 writers 👍)

And pushing more Pharah/Mercy stuff after literal YEARS of gradual Gency buildup in OW1?

and also the way some Gency artists literally don’t feel SAFE to post their ship art (of a ship that actually has a decent amount of support and is based in canon, mind you) on Twitter.. but that’s more a Twitter thing than anything

i wanted to be into this games lore so bad and i used to have such a good handle on it and now every so often i get this huge wave of nostalgia when i look back over fics from years ago and get sentimental and mad over what was and what could have been (just in general) if blizzard didn’t fuck it up :(

admittedly I haven’t examined what’s going on in the lore of the game too much over the last couple months, so if they revived it somehow or Mr. Developer looked us in the eye and said “Gency is real” then throw this whole thing out the window 😭

Anyways there was a really cool plot to the dream and i was gonna give you a prompt so you could write something akin to it if you ever wanted but I now forgot the plot ☹️ but I love your writing and i hope even in your creative, non-overwatch-related endeavors, all goes well

hmmm but here’s a prompt idea (I don’t know if this would actually be in line with the canon for your overwatch prompts now, it’s more of a what-if):

what if Genji and Mercy crossed paths after the fall of overwatch? Before they started sending each other letters, before the recall, by pure coincidence—maybe before or while Genji was under Zenyatta’s teaching—either way, he isn’t at peace with himself yet. Would Genji try to hide his identity? Would he feel like he isn’t good enough to face her? Or guilty after she goes, missing a one-in-a-million opportunity to connect with her again? Or maybe they do talk, but are obscured and don’t know who the other is until too late? Or maybe they fully know who the other is—what do they say? What do they do? I am super interested to read your take on this prompt if you ever want to write something akin to this!

I am going to. binge all your Gency fics now. Goodbye

First of all... WOW! Thank you for taking the time to write all this! And also thank you for reading my gency stuff. I still love them too, for all my disillusionment with Overwatch and its overall storytelling. I definitely share your sentiments with regards to the fact that the revolving door of writers has basically lead to Overwatch no longer giving a shit about continuity and actual storytelling and just defaulting to what they think will suck the dicks of fanon in the most satisfactory manner. And it's not just writing Gency out of existence either--it's about erasing the tragedy of Widowmaker and the complexity of Reinhardt. It's about reducing Gabriel to a shitty radicalized cop. It's about bringing in characters who make no sense chronologically and have fuck all to do with anything and honestly just heighten the truth of the "stereotype+fetish" joke of Overwatch character design (Yes, I'm talking about Kiriko and Illari). It's about bringing in Mauga 4 years late and acting like they're the cleverest damn people in the world for doing it. It's about expending an absurd amount of narrative and advertisement funding and energy on fucking ASHE of all members of the cast.

Okay--okay--I'm calming myself down.

With regards to your prompt, I'm just going to say, I played the general timeline out between Genji and Mercy the way it played out with very specific reasons. The truth was, as far as character development goes, for all of his love of Mercy (as far as my fic continuity goes) Genji simply wasn't in the mental or emotional space to have a healthy relationship with *anyone,* let alone Mercy. And that's also why I have him mentioning hooking up with Cassidy during his time in Blackwatch in the broad general fic continuity, because it's this very fucked up emotional period for both of them and they have this *very strong link* for a time but as they progress to healthier mindsets they both sort of outgrow each other. Genji moves on to Angela and Cassidy moves on to Hanzo and that's *good* because that indicates they've both grown into their own respective people past being in a really painful codependent state.

The *whole point* was Genji getting away from Overwatch, hallucinating Mercy at his lowest point, and realizing *he* needs to be the person to get himself out of his most fucked up mental corners, and then meeting Zenyatta so that he can develop the right mental tools for that. I'm realizing this is a very western interpretation of this, but then again Overwatch slotted in Robot Jesus with Aurora so fuck it, but if I had to break it down into a solid narrative, it's a Divine Comedy where Genji is Dante, Zenyatta is Virgil, and Mercy is Beatrice. You can have your idealized love and your most beloved mentor, but ultimately YOU have to claw YOUR OWN way out of hell.

If he met with Mercy or made contact with Mercy at any point before Zurich exploded in my fic continuity, that wouldn't give catharsis for ANYONE. The only position they would be in, would be for angst wank. And like, YEAH, I *can* write Gency angst wank that doesn't actually go anywhere and doesn't contribute anything to the characters beyond making them feel sad, but honestly I'd rather write my Anarky-Assassinated-President-Lex-Luthor fic. That's a nice fatty mutton bone I can chew on.

[not-poignant]

For the meme!!! 21 - 22 - 23

We love a sequential number sequence :D

21. Could you ever quit writing? Do you ever wish you could? Why or why not?

I mean, yeah, maybe one day! I don't want to quit writing, I certainly don't wish I could. I love this job! It's been my favourite ever job! It's also been the hardest fucking job I've ever done!!! But I still love it :'D

I don't want to say 'I'm never going to quit' - I don't know what the future might bring. The arthritis in my hands is pretty bad, maybe one day I'll be in too much agony to justify it. Maybe one day I'll just stop enjoying it. I don't believe in sticking something out forever based on how I feel about it now!

I can say with all confidence that I don't want to quit. The biggest flaw in this version of my job is that it doesn't pay super great for the amount of work that goes into it. BUT, it definitely pays better than working as a professional artist did, and there is growth, and amazing people do support the Patreon, so it's like...that flaw becomes less of a flaw over time.

I love this job. It wasn't one I would have picked for myself, but it's introduced me to the best people, it's something I feel I'm actually pretty good at (maybe I'm not, but this is a nice feeling to have), and it's kind of unique. I get to be my own boss (I'm a mean boss, but I'm getting better), and I get to work from home, and I can accommodate my chronic illnesses. I get to spend time in amazing worlds, with amazing characters, and then I get to reply to amazing comments and asks made by amazing people.

Like, when this job is going well, I feel like one of the luckiest people. When this job is hard I just groan a lot and take painkillers for editing headaches. But like, the good parts of this job are very good!!

22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?

I'm pretty organised.

So, all of my chapters are written in Microsoft Word and saved directly into Dropbox (with offline storage as well). All of my folders are also very well organised. I have a naming system for each chapter, and everything is chained together pretty well.

On top of that I now use Obsidian for worldbuilding (it's free! Though you can pay and they deserve money for their awesome service). I used to use World Anvil but found it too clunky for my personal needs. I have about 4 Obsidian vaults now (i.e. different worlds) and they look like this:

You can see a chained folder system on the left, and the graph view on the right.

And the information in the individual files is set up like a Wiki page:

Not all of my worlds get this treatment, but Underline the Rainbow, Vexteria, Mallory & Mount and something else I've forgotten about all have vaults. Fae Tales doesn't, because I didn't know Obsidian existed when I started worldbuilding for that, lol, so all of that is in Word.

And then I will on occasion just write in notepads and in Paperblanks journals when I need to brainstorm stuff. This part of the process is especially useful when plotting, brainstorming names or titles, or figuring out the end of a story.

I don't use Google Docs (don't actually like it), Scrivener (hate it, sorry Scrivener fans), or anything else. Word has its issues, but it does well enough for me. I actually formatted Perth Shifters in Word.

23. Describe the physical environment in which you write. Be as detailed as possible. Tell me what’s around you as you work. Paint me a picture.

I write in a study dedicated to art/writing, because those have been my jobs for over 15 years. I sit at a large desk, and have a desktop computer with one monitor (I've wanted two monitors for such a long time), a decent speaker system, and a good RGB hard-drive.

It's a mess, lol.

Hang on let me show you:

I have stickers on the desktop by the immaculate WhiskeyRabbit. I have a bunch of art supplies, and art in various stages of completion (the raven is finished, Augus behind the raven is not). There's meds and supplements everywhere. I have my Metformin (diabetes meds) in front of me because I often eat where I work, lol. I have some Sank collectible toys on the subwoofer because I find Sank very inspiring. And lots of art behind me like I'm some 18 year old instead of the 41 year old I actually am.

Oh and like, some half-finished chocolate blocks, lmao. And some fingerless gloves, a tea-towel, notepads for my writing, a calculator for my wordcount, a little spiky massage ball for the muscle/fascia issues in my wrists from writing so much, and much, much more.

It's a very ADHD desk. I do not notice the mess, lmao.

To my left is my writing whiteboard which tracks my writing and the chapters I've completed for the year, and my yearly wordcount to date. It also has some pinned up fanart and gifts from readers to keep me going when things get hard! :D

--

From the Weird Writing Questions meme!

#asks and answers #memey goodness #pia on writing #going through a chocolate phase at the moment #usually the only food on my desk is the almonds you can see under my monitor #my work desk is like #my home #i spend more time here than i think i actually spend in bed lmao

[inf1nyxw0rlds]

no but actually it's so sad how like... one scene caused people to declare that infinite is a pathetic, weak and whiny villain. i understand why the infamous "i am not weak" thing first got memed, but whenever i hear these jokes five years later, and i'm reminded this is his legacy... man.

infinite, canonically, was a mercenary captain; he was the leader of his own team and not only that but alledgedly, people refered to him as the ultimate mercenary, which i'm actually inclined to believe. he had a reputation. he had to have trained, built up a lot of skill, and bear in mind, he's also almost inarguably half blind (doesn't need to see out of the blacked out side of his mask, wields sword in left hand-- is he naturally left handed, or was this an adaptation, meaning he could, theoretically, be self-taught ambidextorous?-- and overall facial trauma is referenced and drawn attention to frequently) ... this would imply, for his position, a large amount of dedication in my opinion, as he would have had to adjust his combat strategies and the like to this in order for it not to disadvantage him. he was (is) strong, and capable. this isn't some kind of stretch. and losing one fight to the ultimate lifeform doesn't automatically negate this.

moving foward, if we're to acknowledge that infinite was a well-known, feared mercenary, then it's likely that losing wasn't a common occurance for him; hence the shock, especially when combined with, oh, yeah -- the death of his entire squad. you might believe that infinite was selfish based on his reaction, and how he carries himself, and i really can't say that he's decidedly not selfish... but selfishness doesn't inherently imply his team meant nothing to him. characters can have complexities, and i believe that this is super important for infinite as a whole -- more on that later, but it's ill-advised to take a character who's theme is masking himself at face value.

in further regards to his breakdown, i think that the reason there was so much heavy emphasis on his weakness was because of pre-existing trauma -- or if not outright trauma, then an issue that was apparent prior to his defeat at shadow's hands. there's a decent amount of evidence to support this, and i think it would also serve to explain how he became such a force to be reckoned with as a mercenary -- he was constantly pushing himself to be better, better, better, because weakness wasn't allowed in his eyes, losing wasn't allowed. and then he does. catastrophically. he loses that fight, but he also loses just about everything else. his squad, his entire squad, are dead. all at once, just like that, there then gone in a single night. and, i think, how could he not blame himself? how could someone like that not come to the conclusion that, this is because i was incompetent -- this is because i was weak?

anyhow, i digress lol. all this to say that infinite is a skilled combatant. infinite captured sonic. infinite trapped shadow in virtual reality. infinite's illusions had real world impact. infinite talked back to eggman. and even if the phantom ruby "wasn't his power", that still doesn't mean he's useless without it. i don't think you could achieve these results with just anybody; it's not just about the power itself, it's about who uses it and how it's used.

i genuinely don't think infinite is weak. i understand that he talks big game, and many people walked away from sonic forces feeling underwhelmed by him, but i mean this wholeheartedly. there is so, so much i want to say about him as a character after the past five years i've spent rotating him in my mind and analysing him to my friends haha, but it's hard to formulate my thoughts into something more coherent and... y'know. makes-sensy. doesn't sound totally unhinged. yeah.

i'm gonna just go ahead and post this now as i've been sitting here for far too long (longer than the length might suggest). in conclusion umm. dog. sure that'll do

#transmission #infinite tag #infinite the jackal #long post #analysis

[melodiousmonsters]

I am mildly curious about what you have for barrb’s biology in your au 👁👁

(This is a long goddamn post I had a decent amount of this written already so there's a lot)

Well the first things that need to be mentioned is how plant monsters work. Like actual plants they are full of a very watery fluid called xylem (term taken directly from plant anatomy) that functions as blood in an open circulatory system. Their muscles also function solely because of the xylem because they are hydraulic like how those leaves that curl up when you touch them move, to extend a muscle it gets filled with xylem, and to contract it the xylem flows out of the muscle. So because of all that and photosynthesis plant monsters need about an 80% water content to function properly. Also monsters are considered adults at 30 because they live like, way longer than people (like 150 years or so on average) so they develop a bit slower.

There are also large critters that live in the monster world. Not like, titan big, but like, medium to large animal big. In the air lands, which is the most relevant to this, there's a fair few of these in the form of large ungulate herbivores. All of them have real world parallels that they quite closely resemble, maybe with a few spikes or eyes added, and overall critters look weirder than the animal they’re based off of.

Also the air lands kinda still exist in the modern day. Because of its high elevation a decent amount of the land didn’t sink all the way, there’s about 3 times the surface area of air island in normal, non-possessed by an ancient god air element land. Most of it is uninhabitable in comparison to air island due to the aggressive critters, frequent tornadoes and dust storms, the heat, etc.

Unlike most places where mainly non-plant monsters have lived for a long time, there’s no large carnivorous critters in the air lands. The reason for this (and the aforementioned aggressive wildlife) are barrbs. The soil in the air lands is high in nutrition, but it is too dry to support a large majority of plant life. And to  photosynthesize water needs to evaporate and be used, which is a dangerous thing to do as the risk of drying out too much is a very real thing. To deal with the poor soil and dryness barrbs have thick, waxy skin and decided to specialize in carnivorous diet.

The skin thing is boring so I’m going to elaborate on the carnivory. Barrbs prey on basically any critter that they can take down, which is every critter in the air lands other than gigacheeps (they and glubbers are sort of “critter titans” which are just titan sized critters that are about as intelligent as the average animal). Their teeth are designed to be able to grab onto critters larger than they are, making them one of the very few monsters who will eat anything that doesn’t fit in their mouths.

This behavior of fighting massive beasts that could very well seriously hurt or even kill them makes barrbs kinda intimidating to other monsters who find this reckless behavior well, reckless.

Where’d I get this idea from? I don’t know, barrbs just look like they would kill things with their bare hands, or teeth in this case. Like, come on, look at that face and tell me they wouldn’t rip open a cow or something on the regular

Because of their unique lifestyles, during the dawn of fire days patches (a patch is a group of barrbs,if we get a cannon one later I’ll just add it alongside patch) of barbs would live away from other monster settlements and would just do their own thing. Barrb patches wouldn’t be on bad or uneasy terms with other monster groups, in fact often they’d give them any extra food they’d hunted, especially during droughts where crops may not be as reliable as a food source.

Anyway away from the hunting thing time for some actual biology stuff.

The most noticeable and beloved (By both Barrbs and other Monsters) features of the Barrb is its hot pink frill of petals around its neck. While they are pretty and Barrbs take a lot of effort keeping up their appearance, the petals are for much more than just display.

Barrbs can shake causing their petals to move and hit against each other, producing blunt sounding percussive noises. Because of how unpredictable and unreliable the sound their petals make is, they aren’t used musically. Instead Barrbs use it for their own “language” that’s made up of specific patterns of shaking that represent simple phrases. Most of those phrases are used for things like coordinating a group of other Barrbs to do basic pack-animal things like navigating a precarious area or hunting a large dangerous Critter. Because of the specificity of the language it's used only in those sorts of situations, when just communicating normally they'll just use standard monstrous.

The pigment in the petals is solely used to show how old a Barrb is. Unlike most Monsters, Barrbs live quite dangerous lives that they can’t really avoid in any way, so it’s very important to be able to know how much life experience another Barrb has. A very sudden development of pore-like glands occurs in their petals once they turn 30 and get exposed to a dark enough environment. Those glands immediately start producing a large amount of the pigment, making the tips of the petals turn pink over the span of 9 hours. After that first night the production of the pigment slows to a near halt, with the glands only making an unnoticable amount every night. Really old Barrbs have fully pink petals, some even older Barrbs may even end up with some overdeveloped glands that make a cyan pigment instead.

When a Barrb happens to be overexposed to dark environments they may develop these pigment-producing glands way earlier in life across way more of their bodies. One that spends it’s entire childhood in the dark will have these glands all over their body and be pink all over. When a Barrb like that turns 30 the glands that would have developed in their petals at that time will already be there well beforehand, so instead they turn into the overdeveloped cyan pigment-producing ones and their petals turn cyan.

The petals are covered in little pores that do various things. They can precisely sense light levels, scents, humidity, vibrations, and temperature. Barrbs like to sleep half-buried in soil or mud face down with only some of their petals exposed and able to sense the world around them, so they have to be quite good at it. Generally all the senses are used for surveying the area around them, but scents are most relied on. Barrbs have one of the best senses of smell of any Monster and other than noises, they get the most enjoyment perceiving the world through smells. Barrbs mostly use their olfactory abilities to find water and food.

There’s more but this post is getting pretty long and I’m tired of it so yeah there’s some stuff on barrbs.

#melodious monster chronicles #barrb #my singing monsters #ask

[ohthehypocrisy]

Magnezone for Pokemon Unite!

Season 1

Season 2

Prev: Cradily - Hatterene - Tropius - Cacturne - Ditto - Weavile - Ogerpon - Coalossal - Gogoat - Galarian Slowbro - Luxray - Breloom - Uxie, Mesprit, & Azelf - Wobbuffet - Obstagoon - Lanturn - Castform - Dusknoir - Persian - Tatsugiri & Dondozo

Ah, Magnezone, one of my favorite new evolutions from Gen 4, having evolved from the quirky Magneton which ironically makes it the honorary Steel Type of Gen 1, before the typing existed. What a lovely pokemon with such a convoluted history, despite it's awkward magnet designs, I will always be there for Magnezone, much like how it will always be there for me.

Seriously, this thing is one of my go-to's for teambuilding, especially for Trick Room teams. It's so easy to use, I've grown fond of it. Maybe that's why I'm attracted to the idea of Magnezone for Pokemon Unite, and I'm not just saying that because of the metal implants in my body.

Of which there are none. I'm being facetious.

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Well, onto the stats, and would you look at that. There's a reason I never hesitated to put a Magnezone on my teams. Extremely high Sp. Attack coupled with high Defense makes the magnet monster bulky enough to take hits and dish them back. The rest of its stats are serviceable, particularly the Sp. Defense is decent enough that Magnezone's bulk is only held back by its below average HP.

While it may appear to have the makings of a Defender, Magnezone is often specialized in taking on specific threats that hinder the entire team. Remember how effective it used to be at trapping opposing Steel Types and removing them from the equation? I mean, it still is, you just gotta watch out for Terastilization. Outside of that, it's hyper focused in a sense that it lacks any other optimizations, and as such it doesn't have many options in sustaining itself. Lack of recovery greatly hinders its walling capabilities, but as long as it eliminates the target, it will have done its job. Yes, this is one of those pokemon that desperately needs support from Supporters and Bulky All-Rounders. What does that make Magnezone? A...

Defender

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Basic Attack - Ranged/Sp. Attack

The user generates a magnetic field around itself, slowly damaging all enemies within range. After dealing a certain amount of damage, affected enemies will be stunned and pulled towards the user.

The basic attack damages all enemies within range of the user. As damage is dealt, a magnet icon graphic appears over affected enemies that slowly fills. The magnet icon fills in when 15% of the opposing pokemon's HP is lost through the basic attack. When this happens, affected pokemon are Pulled a short distance towards the user.

The magnet icon disappears when the affected enemy is Pulled or leaves the range of the basic attack, or if the basic attack ends from releasing the attack button or when the attack is stopped forcefully through a hindrance. If it disappears from activating the Pull effect, the magnet icon will not reappear until the basic attack ends and restarts.

The magnet icon doesn't deplete if the target restores HP. The mark keeps track of how much HP the target has lost.

Now, the thing about magnets is that they're always on. You ever put a magnet in a small cup of honey, sprinkled in some metal fillings, and watched the particles slowly pull towards the nodes? I mean, aside from having made the world's worst snack, it's pretty fascinating to observe.

In Pokemon Unite, this is how Magnezone and its evolutions attack, by constantly filling the space around it with powerful electric currents. It deals weak damage, but the effect is powerful. If an enemy lingers in the area of effect for too long, they'll get magnetized and will be forcefully dragged towards the user. It's not a very strong pull, but if you coordinate with an ally, you can score some easy KO's this way.

Of course, once the magnetization takes effect, you have to wait for it to become active again. You can't magnetize an enemy multiple times, not unless you turn off the basic attack or let them leave the area of effect. Speaking of which, since you are holding the basic attack button to magnetize opposing pokemon, one disruptive hindrance is all it'll take to stop the magnet waves from taking hold. And there are some opposing pokemon you don't want to pull in, like Bulky All-Rounders. Remember what I said about Magnezone's lack of sustainability? Yeah, that'll become apparent much later on.

For now, work with your allies to make the most of your magnetization skills. You can improve your magnetism with your ability, Magnet Pull.

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Ability: Magnet Pull

The user's Pull effects are strengthened the more Aeos orbs you have in your Score Pocket. Aeos Orbs on the ground are collected from further away.

Each Aeos Orb in your Score Pocket adds 1% to the power of your Pull effects. This maxes out to 30% from Level 1 to Level 7, 40% from Level 8 through Level 11, and 50% from Level 12 onwards.

This Pull strength multiplier is based on the power of the pull effect, not the distance. Otherwise, it might be possible to Pull an enemy all the way out of their Home Base after they escape into Hoopa's Hyperspace Hole.

Stray Aeos Orbs on the ground are drawn in to you from further away than normal. You will only attract stray Aeos Orbs if you have the space for them in your Score Pocket.

This ability affects only your own Score Pocket, and not the combined Score Pocket of you and an ally Comfey or other future effects.

There are weak magnets, and then there are strong magnets. And then there are really strong magnets, the kinds they use to pick up scrap in a junkyard, like a floating saucer. Hey, that's just like Magnezone!

Magnet Pull powers up your Pull effects by 1% for each Aeos Orb in your Score Pocket. This means that the boost is limited by the size of the Score Pocket, and the only way to increase it is to Level Up during the match. Now, that's easy enough, but when you make a score, you go back down to 0, which can cause moments of bad timing if you score during a hotly contested fight around a Goal Zone. Can't really pull anything without any power, huh?

Thankfully, Magnet Pull has a secondary effect of pulling in Aeos Orbs from further away than other pokemon. You ever find it tedious to manually walk over all the stray Aeos Orbs on the ground to collect them? Well, thanks to Magnezone's magnetic personality, you can just suck them all up like a hungry vacuum just by being nearby. It only works on the points you have space for, so don't forget to make a score with all those points you have.

One other thing to note is that, since it only pulls in Aeos Orbs, dummy Aeos Orbs thrown by Sableye's Feint Attack will be ignored, so that's a handy way of foiling that foolish folly.

Now, you'd think there are no downsides to this ability, and for the most part, there isn't. It's just that, Magnezone has some really strong moves with Pull effects that instantly become weaker if you were to score them all. It might be worth it to hold on to a full Pocket of Aeos Orbs for defending purposes, but don't forget to actually make goals when you need to.

It's a good thing we know how magnets work, in spite of the lack of knowledge in this field of science, nor the insistence of such ignorance.

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At the start of the game, Magnezone will start out as Magnemite. You can choose between Magnet Bomb and Thunder Shock as your first move. By Level 3, you'll have learned both.

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Move 1: Magnet Bomb (Ranged/Hindrance)

The user launches metal orbs that fly and stick to any enemy in range. Afterwards, the orbs explode, Pulling affected enemies towards the user. 8s cooldown.

Little metal orb projectiles are shot forward in a conical shape, sticking to enemies within range. This effect is purely visual, as even one hit will cover an enemy with the magnetically charged beads.

After 1.5 seconds, the beads spark and explode, Stunning for 0.25 seconds and Pulling the affected enemies a very short distance towards the user. The distance Pulled is lengthened by Magnet Pull.

I will never not be mad about moves that get cut in between generations, no matter how useless they may have been. I mean, a Steel Type move that never misses? How novel! It's just too bad that the signature user is a Sp. Attacker and that Move was decidedly Physical for whatever reason.

Well, we can remedy this injustice by turning it into an actually useful move in Pokemon Unite. Magnet Bomb is a short ranged move that causes little magnetically charged beads to stick to whatever it hits. The beads explode a short while later, causing Stun and Pulling the affected enemy towards the user. At the beginning of the game, this won't be all that strong of an effect, unless you diligently stockpile Aeos Orbs in order to maximize the Pull power of this move.

The short delay makes the move tricky to use, since opposing pokemon can easily just Dash away from you in order to minimize the impact of the Pull effect. You do threaten big damage, though, when Magnet Bomb is combined with your other move, Thunder shock.

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Move 2: Thunder Shock (Area)

The user unleashes a bolt of electricity all around itself. The closer enemies are, the more damage is dealt. 6s cooldown.

Electricity is launched all around the user, damaging all enemies nearby.

The damage is multiplied the closer opposing pokemon are to the user. At the edge of the attack, the multiplier is 0.75x. Halfway it is 2.25x. Right next to the user, it becomes 4.5x increased damage.

With both your basic attack and Magnet Bomb being able to Pull enemies in, Thunder Shock is the coup de grace when the opposing pokemon is close enough. It deals pretty solid damage thanks to a proximity multiplier, which is intended to make up for Magnemite's lack longevity in a fight.

The idea is that you target a troublesome enemy like a frail Attacker, pull them in with your effects, then finish them off with Thunder Shock before they can escape. It's a solid plan, especially since ranged Attackers like to keep their distance in the first place. If an enemy Attacker is coming out of Central Area and into your Lane, you and your allies can amass a lot of EXP by coordinating a KO with your Pull effects.

And you're going to need to work together, since Magnemite is a bit of a late bloomer for a Defender.

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At Level 4, Magnemite evolves into Magneton.

Since they make Magnemite hold a camera for these Unite Battles, do you think they ever get Magneton in on it? I mean, 3D Movies are a thing, and the multiple perspectives would make for a trippy viewing experience.

Yeah, I'm glossing over this section since Magneton evolves early, but you don't reach your full potential until Level 7, when you fully evolve into Magnezone.

At Level 7, Magneton will evolve into Magnezone. At the same time, Magnet Bomb becomes either Magnet Rise or Magnetic Flux.

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Move 1a: Magnet Rise (Buff/Hindrance)

The user begins floating with electromagnetism, making it immune to damage and effects for a short while. At the same time, a blast of magnetically charged electricity is unleashed around the user, charging all enemies nearby. When the user crashes down, all charged enemies will be damaged and pulled towards the user. 9.5s cooldown.

At Level 12, Magnet Rise becomes Magnet Rise+.

Expands the area of effect.

A short ranged wave of electromagnetism is unleashed all around the user, marking affected enemies with a lightning bolt icon. Magnet Rise+ expands the range of this burst by 50%.

When the user floats into the air, it is completely invincible, similar to Talonflame's Fly, though it is clearly visible. It becomes capable of floating over walls and obstacles and ignores all field effects, whether they be friendly or from foes. Tall Grass also doesn't hide you anymore. This effect lasts only for 1.5 seconds.

When Magnet Rise ends, the user crashes down with a heavy thud, damaging enemies nearby. Those marked with the bolt icon will also be damaged, even if they weren't nearby, and will be Pulled towards the user a short distance. An arrow line is drawn on the ground between the marked enemies and the user, showing where the direction of the Pull effect is. Magnet Pull can increase this Pull strength.

Magnet Rise cannot Pull enemies through walls.

Apologies to Orbeetle, but Magnezone was the first flying saucer pokemon, what with its powerful magnetic tractor beam grabbing things from the earth and pulling them towards it. Don't be surprised that it floats just like a flying saucer as well. And yet, for some reason, it can't have the Levitate Ability...

Anyways, Magnezone is heavy, like ridiculously heavy. So much so, that when it turns on its magnetic powers to fly, the magnetic waves are powerful enough to fry you if you're standing too close to it. That's what happens to nearby enemies when Magnet Rise is used, as it marks them with a quaint little lightning bolt icon.

Now, while Magnezone is flying, it is completely immune to all effects, negative and positive. Yeah, it's immune to damage even, but allies can't affect it with buffs or healing moves either, just like Cinderace's Feint. Magnet Rise only makes you invulnerable for a short while just as well, only you come crashing down with a heavy thud.

The charged enemies you hit with the jump get their polarities reversed when this happens. What this means is, that those marked by Magnet Rise will suddenly get pulled towards Magnezone when it comes down, wherever that happens to be. Magnezone is only in the air for a very short amount of time, so it's not likely you'll get a lot of distance between you and the enemy.

However, it is a Pull effect, which gets strengthened by Magnet Pull, and it is a delayed Pull effect at that. If the enemy gets caught, they can expect to be pulled in the direction you're moving towards, which can be coordinated with your allies. There's a whole electric current drawn on the ground to illustrate this effect, so its their own fault if they let themselves get pulled like dumb little fish on a fishing line.

The invincibility effect is very useful too, as Magnezone lacks any way to heal or empower itself. However, this invulnerability means that you can't pull off any silly tricks like diving into Hoopa's Hyperspace Hole when it opens, since you are immune to all effects, harmful or helpful. You can't even hide in Tall Grass while floating. Being able to avoid Unite Moves is pretty nifty though, but the cooldown of the move means it'll be an extensive wait time if you miss the timing.

Plus, you're depending on a full Score Pocket to power up the Pull effects of Magnet Rise. You really need those Aeos Orbs. It's just too bad that you can't really steal them from opposing pokemon by magnetizing the orbs right out of their Score Pocket.

Or can you?

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Move 1b: Magnetic Flux (Ranged/Hindrance)

The user fires a beam of magnetically charged electricity forward, damaging all enemies in range. The affected enemies will have their Aeos Orbs taken and added to the user's Score Pocket. When the move ends, the enemies will be pulled towards the user. The user receives reduced damage and the affected opposing pokemon deal less damage to the user while Magnetic Flux is in use. 9.5s cooldown.

At Level 12, Magnetic Flux becomes Magnetic Flux+.

Expands the range of the magnet beam and increases the damage reducing effects.

A magnetic electro beam is launched forward in a conical shape, burning enemies within range with charged radio waves. Magnetic Flux+ expands the range of this beam by 40%. Magnezone can move while using Magnetic Flux, though the direction will maintain constant.

All enemies within range of the beam will have their Aeos Orbs taken from their Score Pocket and added to the users at a rate of 2 Points per second. If the user doesn't have room in their Score Pocket, the excess is left behind on the ground. This doesn't affect Wild Pokemon.

The user receives 15% less damage from opposing attacks and opposing pokemon affected by the magnet beam deal 15% less damage to the user while within the area of effect. Magnetic Flux+ increases both of these effects to 25% each. These effects stack.

Magnetic Flux lasts for 5 seconds or until the attack is cancelled, manually or from a hindrance. When the attack ends, all opposing pokemon within range will be Pulled a short distance towards the user.

Magnezone's third eye, the big red circle in the middle of its face, is fully functional, despite the fact that it doesn't blink. That's because it's specialized to perceive magnetic waves and other strange wavelengths flying about in our world. Oh, and also because it shoots laser beams from it.

While Magnetic Flux is a passive status move, I've turned it into a sneaky little attack. Also, Magnetic Flux can only be learned by Magnezone, not Magneton, which is why Magnezone starts learning its moves at this Level and not at Level 5 as a Magneton.

Anyway, the magnetic waves launched out of Magnezone's eye magnetize the Aeos Orbs in the Score Pockets of opposing pokemon within range. What this does is that the loose change slips out of their pocket and floats into Magnezone's own deep coffers, completely of its own volition. It's not a lot of points passively, but any amount of points getting stolen is sure to illicit a violent response by the opposing team.

Normally Magnet Pull drags in stray points off the ground and towards you, but if there are none nearby, you can 'borrow' some from nearby enemies. It's too bad you get this move at Level 7 and not the early game, where it becomes much more lucrative to score and power up stacking items like Aeos Cookie.

Now, the move only runs for 5 seconds, but during that time, you get a small defense boost, reducing the damage you receive while the move is active. Those in range of Magnetic Flux will also have their damage output reduced, and these two effects can overlap, meaning that Magnezone gets a 30% total damage reduction from those it is directly harming with Magnetic Flux. That's enough to stifle most burst damage attacks coming your way. When upgraded to Magnetic Flux+, it comes out to 50% damage reduction, thwarting nearly all burst damage aimed at the giant magnet.

When the move ends, all opposing pokemon getting zapped by the beam will then get pulled towards the user. Because you are stealing Aeos Orbs, Magnet Pull will slowly increase in power. Magnetic Flux runs for 5 seconds, which totals 10 Aeos Orbs taken from each pokemon within range. More pokemon hit by the beam means more points taken, but that does naturally contribute to the risk of trying to affect the entire enemy team with this move.

While the defense boost is very nice, you can manually end the move early by using the attack a second time. Whether it ends from getting interrupted or the time has run out, Magnetic Flux pulls pokemon in when it goes away. Maybe a particularly twitchy enemy is liable to make a run for it to escape from your tractor beam. In that case, the defense boost of Magnetic Flux won't be all that useful to you since the enemy is choosing to flee instead of fight, so Pulling them in as soon as the beam hits is a great way to finish them off.

Just one thing to note. Magnetic Flux deals damage, but it doesn't hinder the enemy until it ends. You get a defense boost while using the move, but those outside of the beam's range can continue to pelt you with long range attacks like Decidueye or Inteleon, as they won't have to worry about the damage debuff. Speaking of which, hindrance resistance effects like Full Heal or Blissey's Safeguard can snub the damage reduction effects of Magnetic Flux, as well as the Pull effect if they time it right.

There's also the fact that, at this stage, your only other move is Thunder Shock, a pitifully weak move at your power level. Not to worry, as just one level later, you'll replace it with a much more impactful attack like Discharge or Flash Cannon.

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At Level 8, Thunder Shock will become either Discharge or Flash Cannon.

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Move 2a: Discharge (Area)

The user builds up a massive surge of electricity before unleashing it all around itself, Stunning nearby enemies. The closer they are, the more damage they receive. Affected opposing pokemon are more vulnerable to the Pull effect of your basic attack. 5.5s cooldown.

At Level 13, Discharge becomes Discharge+.

Decreases the charge time for the move.

Opposing pokemon are Stunned for 0.75 seconds when hit by Discharge.

The damage multiplies the closer they are to Magnezone, just like with Thunder Shock. The damage multiplier maxes out to 5.5x.

For 4 seconds afterwards, opposing pokemon receive a 150% stronger Pull effect from your basic attack. This stacks with Magnet Pull.

It takes Discharge 1.5 seconds to come out, causing the user the crackle with electricity right before it is unleashed. Discharge+ reduces this charge time to 0.75 seconds.

As a direct upgrade to Thunder Shock, Discharge has Magnezone let loose a powerful volley of lightning bolts all around itself. Not only does it hit hard, it also Stuns the enemy briefly, since electric attacks have a tendency to paralyze opposing pokemon that get hit.

It's not completely free to use, though, as Discharge has a short windup to it. It takes an entire second and a half for Discharge to come out when you use it, giving the opposing team plenty of time to try and dash away from your violent volt surges. Now, I would argue that limiting the space the enemy can play in is one of the defining traits of a Defender, as a direct hit can deal massive damage to slower enemies.

Just like Thunder Shock, Discharge has a proximity multiplier that increases the damage dealt to enemies too close for comfort. If they get hit at the edge of the attack, Discharge won't deal a whole lot of damage. In fact, it'll hit for a lot less than normal to those it just barely managed to graze. If opposing pokemon are shoulder to shoulder with Magnezone, however, Discharge will deliver a massive 5.5x damage multiplier to those directly nearby, potentially electrocuting frail Attackers and Speedsters.

Now, a powerful move like this would have some drawbacks, such as the charge time before the move comes out. However, Magnezone lacks the ability to empower itself with healing or shields, so it's putting itself at risk trying to maximize the damage of Discharge. As such, Discharge has a shockingly low cooldown of 5.5 seconds, which makes it ridiculously free to use at any point during a fight. Pokemon that lack sustainability need these sort of crazy cooldowns in order to be threatening to the opposing team as a Defender.

One last thing to note. The residual electricity of Discharge makes it so that your basic attack's Pull effect become much stronger, even if the attack just barely clipped them. If the move didn't successfully KO the opposing pokemon, you can have easier time Pulling the affected enemy towards you and your team with your followup attack.

Of course, you do need to coordinate with your allies to get this done.

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Move 2b: Flash Cannon (Area)

Let loose a brilliant light all around you, damaging enemies and makes it easier to Pull enemies with your basic attack. The closer they are, the greater the damage increase. 6s cooldown.

At Level 13, Flash Cannon becomes Flash Cannon+.

Movement Speed increases while Flash Cannon+ is active.

Flash Cannon scatters light particles around Magnezone that damage nearby enemies continuously for 5 seconds. The damage dealt increases the closer they are to the user. The damage multiplier maxes out to 4.75x.

The cooldown of Flash Cannon kicks in when the move ends.

While Flash Cannon is active, the basic attack only needs to fill in 10% of the magnet icon in order to Pull opposing pokemon closer.

Flash Cannon+ increases your Movement Speed by 25% while in use.

You ever wonder why Flash Cannon is a Steel type move? Because Steel types manipulate the light refracting off of their polished metal exteriors and focus it into an attack. I mean, that doesn't explain why the non-Steel types are able to use it, but at least it gives pokemon like Magnezone some way to deal Sp. Attack damage with their Same Type Attack Boost.

While Discharge lets loose a big wave of dangerous electricity all around itself, Flash Cannon is a bit weaker in exchange for consistency. It will deal small amounts of damage passively all around itself, which it will continue to do for 5 seconds. It can't even get stifled by hindrances, which is a weakness of Discharge if opposing pokemon are good at timing their attacks.

It also has a proximity multiplier, just like Discharge, though the maximum damage output is a bit weaker. Being able to deal continuous damage is effective, but it can be too weak when engaging opposing pokemon, as it may not deal enough damage to threaten them. It lets Magnezone float up to Wild Pokemon and get the last hit on objectives more often than not, so it's up to opposing Defenders to keep the area safe from this chromatic creature.

Since Flash Cannon is active at all times, it means that you can use other effects while the move is running. If you really want to abuse the proximity multiplier to its full effect, you should use Magnet Rise or Magnetic Flux while Flash Cannon is running to Pull the enemy closer towards you. Flash Cannon also makes the basic attack have an easier time of Pulling enemies inward, requiring only 10% damage to fill in the mark as opposed to 15%.

All these potential effects combined make Flash Cannon a very solid move with no downsides, though the low damage rate may be a deal-breaker for some players. It lacks the immediately threatening power of Discharge in exchange for passive safety, so it's up to you on how you employ Magnezone's defensive capabilities.

Admittedly, it is dangerous to always be pulling enemies towards you in order to Defend the team. Luckily, you have one final gambit to use to fulfill your true potential as a Defender.

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Unite Move: Polarity Swing

Launches an oversized magnet at the designated area. The magnet damages and pulls enemies inward, dealing more damaging the closer they are. Any Stun effects applied to enemies in range will strengthen the Pull effect. The magnet’s pull effect out-prioritizes your own.

The giant magnet damages enemies on hit, but it doesn't behave as an obstacle. It starts generating powerful magnet waves that damages enemies over time slowly in a large area around it. The damage dealt multiplies the closer they are to the center, maxing out to 7.5x.

While dealing damage, opposing pokemon are constantly being Pulled towards it. However, the Pull effect is very weak and can easily be moved away from. Magnet Pull strengthens the Pull effect.

If affected opposing pokemon are incapacitated by a Stun Effect, the Pull Effect increases drastically, more than tripling in power. This will only remain in effect while the affected opposing pokemon are Stunned.

Your own Pull effects stop working while within the area of effect.

Wild Pokemon are unaffected by Polarity Swing's Pull effect.

Polarity Swing lasts for 8 seconds.

When Magneton evolves into Magnezone, it goes from 6 horseshoe magnets to 3, so where did the other 3 go? Well, it turns out that these parts got disassembled into magnetic sand and float in the air around Magnezone, so that whenever it needs a big fat magnet to start pulling things into it like a localized black hole, it can just reconstitute it and throw it onto the ground. Please note that I am not a pokemon professor and that this is purely hypothetical, as I really don't know where that magnet came from.

Polarity Swing immediately starts generating a gravitational field all around itself, pulling in enemies on the opposing team towards the giant magnet wherever it was thrown. This pull effect can be increased with a full Score Pocket thanks to Magnet Pull, but it's still pretty easy for opposing pokemon to dash away from the magnetic field with moves. They are also just as easily capable of walking away, as the Pull effect doesn't stop them from moving.

The true power of Polarity Swing comes in its opportunistic behavior. While opposing pokemon are perfectly capable of walking away and out of the pull range, the Pull effect boosts dramatically if they are Stunned from any move, whether it be yours or your allies. This means that any Stunned enemy will be suddenly pulled towards the center of Polarity Swing, which can aid in defense, offense, or positioning for your team. Oh, and did I forget to mention that Polarity Swing is dealing damage continuously in its area of effect?

Just like with Discharge and Flash Cannon, Polarity Swing has a proximity multiplier that deals increasing damage to enemies caught in or near the center of the area of effect. The Pull effect is bad enough, but it is also hurting everything in range. This means that it is in the best interest of you and your team to unload all of your Stun moves at the opposing pokemon, since the longer they stay within the middle of the attack, the more damage they receive overall.

The only downside to this Unite Move is that your own Pull effects stop working, aside from the effects of Polarity Swing. If you try to Pull an enemy towards you while you're both in the area of effect, the Pull attempt will fail, since the giant magnet has a much stronger presence. You can Pull enemies that are outside the range of the Unite Move towards you into the area of effect, though. Although, good luck Pulling an enemy deep enough to be significantly affected by Polarity Swing, because if they want to leave, they'll more than likely escape.

It goes without saying, but try to avoid throwing Polarity Swing into a wall or obstacle. The move deals more damage when opposing pokemon are close to the center of the attack, but that won't happen if the center happens to be out of bounds within an object or big wall. Also, the Pull effect won't affect Wild Pokemon, which is actually a good thing in most situations, except for when you're trying to pull Regieleki away from your Goal Zone.

Biased magnets, how do they work?

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Achievements

Move the opposing team a total of 100 meters through your Pull Effects in a single battle.

Now, most achievements are easy enough to track, what with the formula being based on damage numbers, usually. But for Magnezone, the Achievement is based around the accumulated distance you pull enemies.

Now, everything that I've written down here, everything that I've written in the past, and everything that I will ever write about Pokemon Unite is based purely on conjecture, since I'm supposed to convince you of the idea of any one of these pokemon joining the game. As such, it isn't really possible for me to convey the distance and reach every single move may have, so you'll just have to take my word for it when I say, 'this move reaches far'.

Now, 100 meters is a lot of distance to cover, especially since your Pull effects cover about 2 to 3 meters each. Assuming you Pull each member of the opposing team, you'd have to drag each one for 20 meters to fulfill this achievement. In order to pull 100 meters, you'd need to maximize your Pull effects with Magnet Pull and a full Score Pocket.

The Unite Move, Polarity Swing, is big enough that it can pull the entire enemy team at once and will contribute to the Achievement. But you'd need to guarantee that it affects all opposing pokemon with good placement of the move as well as followup attacks used by you and your allies. Remember, any Stun effect causes Polarity Swing to intensify the Pull effect, so if Magnezone is on your team, give it a helping hand.

Gotta stick together.

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Holowear

Now, Magnezone is far from the typical body standards we adhere to when it comes to clothing, but that doesn't mean it can't be fashionable. Anything can walk the runway, even if they don't walk.

Starting things off, Movie Style Holowear gives Magnezone a big beret with a hole for its antennae to peek through, a director's clapper in one magnet, a megaphone in the other, a big projector light on one 'shoulder' and a big bulky video recorder on the other. Next, Cook Style Holowear gives it a tall chef's hat and apron, as well as spoons, ladles, pots, pans, knives, and a spatula all magnetically stuck to its body, which makes it always ready to cook. In Mechanic Style Holowear, it's wearing a baseball cap and is covered in wrenches, screwdrivers, and nuts and bolts. Similarly, Musical Style Holowear gives it a big hat that marching band leaders wear, along with an assortment of trumpets, big drums, cymbals, and an accordion stuck to its body. Finally, Space Explorer Style Holowear has it covered in star pins, starry veils, model exoplanets, and a pair of wriggly antennae headbands to give Magnezone an out-of-this-world look.

You'll notice that I like to give Magnezone costumes that has it covered in objects like an overpowered magnet. I'm a sucker for good visual jokes.

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Strategy

Remember what I said in the beginning? About how Magnezone is overly specialized in what it can do, it can do it well at the cost of general utility? Well, in Pokemon Unite, Magenzone is good at pulling enemies in, but that's it. It can't heal or sustain itself in battle and has to rely on its allies to follow up its Pull effects with burst damage or the like. It's kind of like Crustle and Mamoswine in this regard, as they're also really solid Defenders, but their potential is based on how well the team can back them up.

In order for Magnezone to be effective, you have to have smart teammates that can capitalize on the openings you provide with your Pull effects. Likewise, not every situation calls for a timely Pull, like say dragging an overleveled enemy towards your underleveled Speedster or Attacker. You gotta read the room and figure out how to best Defend the team in this instance. Usually it means to drag the enemy away from your allies, sacrificing yourself in the process, but if it gives your team some breathing room in order to catch up in EXP, it'll be worth the trade.

Starting a match off as Magnemite, your defensive capabilities are much stronger than normal. You have an automatic Pull attack with your basic attack, a ranged Pull move, and a short ranged area attack that deals increased damage to nearby enemies. This is almost unfair, but Magnemite is a bit of a late bloomer, so it's stuck with this moveset for the first 6 Levels. You evolve two times before you learn the first half of your end game moveset, so you need to focus on EXP while you're playing defense.

Because of the Pull effects you have access to at the beginning of a game, you're better off partnering with a bulky All-Rounder that is capable of dealing heavy damage up close, like Buzzwole or Azumarill. The idea is that you supplement your high EXP need with KO's scored against the opposing team, so you should target frail enemies like opposing Attackers or Speedsters. Do this enough times and you'll reach Level 7 fairly quickly.

If things go awry and you fall behind in EXP, it can be very hard to catch up. Losing the first Goal Zone may be your only recourse, since more Wild Pokemon spawn on your side of the map to compensate for the zone loss. Of course, this is assuming you can get this EXP unobstructed by the opposing team, but greedy pushes like this tend to result in a team wipe sometimes.

If you manage to make it to Level 7, then the fun can truly begin. You'd have to choose between Magnet Rise and Magnetic Flux, but both are very solid moves when playing Tag with the enemy team. Magnet Rise offers a very brief moment of invulnerability while also putting the enemies through magnetic shenanigans. It's also one of the safest ways you can grab multiples enemies at once, since you can move over obstacles while flying, though your Pull victims cannot be dragged through walls with this move.

Magnetic Flux hits a slightly wider area but offers two different boons over invulnerability. Firstly, there's the defense buffs you get from the move while it's running, which is arguably worse than invulnerability. However, the magnetic beam will also start stealing Aeos Orbs passively from those hit by the attack. It's not a lot of points, but any amount will passively boost Magnet Pull, increasing the power of your Pull effects. Speaking of which, when the move ends, whether manually, forcefully, or when the move duration runs out, all enemies hit by the beam will be Pulled towards the user, giving you a lot of dominion over how the attack works. You can either let the move run its course in order to steal the most amount of Aeos Orbs possible, or you end the move prematurely to drag those hit by the beam right away, which you'd prefer to do if you have a full Score Pocket anyway. The defense buff really helps out if you are boldly robbing the entire enemy team.

One Level later and you'll learn the upgrade to Thunder Shock, Discharge or Flash Cannon. Discharge is a little slower with the buildup charge, but it hits really hard, especially if you get an enemy nearby. Even the bulkiest opposing Defender will take a huge chunk of damage from an up close Discharge, so it's a matter of risk versus reward when engaging a Magnezone running this move. Of course, it is vulnerable to hindrances stopping the attack before it comes out, so Flash Cannon is a weaker but safer alternative to proximity damage.

Both of these moves also affect how your basic attack affects enemies. Discharge will make the Pull effect of your basic attack stronger, which stacks with Magnet Pull, so you can keep an enemy really close to you if you managed to land the attack. Flash Cannon speeds up the Pull effect taking hold, which is handy for keeping the enemy in range of the high proximity multiplier of the attack. It's all well and good, but the point of keeping your enemies close is that your friends also need to be close by to take advantage of the vulnerable enemies dragged in by your effects. You can deal high damage, yes, but not burst damage or KO damage. That's the job of your allies.

Speaking of allies, the best time for them to pull their weight would be during your Untie Move, Polarity Swing. As it constantly emits a Pull effect that gets stronger when enemies are Stunned, it's the best time for you and your teammates to unload all of their Stun attacks and burst damage at all enemies caught in the Pull. Of course, you can contribute too, but the giant magnet has a stronger Pull effect than you, so you won't be able to accidentally drag enemies away from the center of the Unite Move. Instead, you should use your moves to drag in enemies outside of the Unite Move's Pull range into it, so that everyone can get in on the magnetic waves.

When two opposing forces meet, the breaking point is at the point of contact. You're going to be pulling the enemy towards you to fight on your turf as Magnezone, so you gotta remember to stay positive.

-

And that's Magnezone for Pokemon Unite! One of my favorite pokemon introduced in Gen 4, I always loved using this thing in battle, as it never disappointed. Of course, if it were to show up in Pokemon Unite, it'd be the most attractive pokemon for me to play, and not just because of the magnets covering its body. I favor playing Defenders if the team needs it.

That'll be it from me this week. Until next time, see ya!

#Pokemon Unite #Magnezone #Magneton #Magnemite

[the-real-xmonster]

omg congrats on escaping the singapore heat!! 🥳🥳 i hope you enjoy the japanese weather (damn, a place with seasons… that’s insane)

yeah, penacony has been my favourite so far in hsr as well! can’t wait for aventurine (i hope i win the 5050). my friend actually got me to play hi3 last year and i liked the story a lot, but i stopped playing as things got busy for me haha! i will continue playing when im free… i was only on chapter 17? so i have a lot of the story left to enjoy!

also i took a look at your supports and damn. that might actually be the most cracked jingyuan i’ve ever seen! what the heck! lore accurate jingyuan fr fr

Thank you!!! I'm looking forward to enjoying 'em seasons while they still exist you know, as in before global warming turns them into a distant memory as the sun slowly roasts us alive 🫠🫠🫠

I'm glad you liked my Jing Yuan lol. I think he still has room for improvement (somebody pls manifest for me a decent lightning damage sphere I beg) but I can't deny that I've spent an unholy amount of time farming that goddamn follow up attack relic set ever since it came out, all because the Mr. General is my favorite. The relic system in this game sucks even worse than the Genshin artifact stuff - there, I said what I said. Anyway, best of luck with your pulls! Over here I'm also on 50/50 and at close to zero pity but I'm telling myself that it's only fitting for it to be a gamble when you're pulling for Aventurine 🙃

Also for no particular reason lemme show you this stupidly extra big merlion plushie I came across today

#replies #random talk #my photos #hsr

[dinoburger]

Honestly your kinda right on the classics in like the mainline comics. While yes the mainline comics arent finished it felt like we bearly got any time with the classics and bearly knew anything about them. Which im guessing for classic fans arent gonna have a great time when their favs get killed of in a single panel. The only reason i can see is that tfc mercs weren't seen as fully fleshed out characters which ok but if cheavy gets a important role then why not at least give Fred something to fucking do. Like he's directly related to the "main plot" and yet is treated as a side character who has no relationship to anyone here. When hes directly related to Engineer and know of Admin's plan probably because if All the Cloanger line worked with her im sure she gave hints.

I would of much more liked Fred knowing than fucking Charles Dairling, a joke character who suddenly became a fucking important lore dumper without an ending how he knows.

Again I know the tf2 comics arent done but still i hated everything they did with the Australium plot sense it was handed in the most infodumpy way ever-

oh for sure, big part of why I got so invested in writing a multi-chap fic starring Fred - he's like, weirdly central to everything yet we only ever get fragments of his existence

it is one of those things where on it's face the comics work decently well, but when you look into the source material more it's like... hey... why is all this other random stuff the focus of the comics

from what people have said it's just how Valve operates to have stuff like this see neglect and since it's sort of supplementary to TF2 and TF2 itself has been nigh abandoned, (at least until the incoming update bares fruit, if it does) I guess it makes sense that the stuff being written to support that has also seen a fair amount of neglect

#asklies

[litchihikxriclub]

ooh i've never heard of LHC before but it looks cool, i might be getting into a new fandom bc of your writing (again haha). anyway, i've got a meta/analysis question....how would you rank the kids in terms of who has the best/worst relationships with their family?

Yayyyy, another person joining us in the LHC pit! :D

No one here has had a very good childhood. Keikou is a disaster of rampant poverty, unsafe conditions, and parents who no doubt have to spend every waking moment working just to keep their kids fed and clothed. Even the most well-intentioned families on the list would end up at least a little neglectful just because they don't have the time or means to properly care for their children.

Also, disclaimer that a lot of them don't have explicitly mentioned family situations, so a good chunk of this is reading into their behavior/lifestyle for implications of how their home life might be.

. . .

"Best" Relationship

Tamiya — All around, Tamiya has by far the best relationship with his family of all of them. He has two parents who have his best interests in mind, a younger sister who he's close to, and a relatively stable situation overall. The inherent sacrifices and problems of their environment are still present, but at least his family is trying.

Kaneda — He mentions having an older mother who he "loves down to her wrinkly little fingers". My guess is that she's his only parent, and has both given her best effort to raise him and had to work herself half to death to do it. He also has an overall good relationship, but it's nowhere near as stable as Tamiya's family situation.

Dafu — In the same chapter of Bokura, he expresses fondness for his family as well. The lack of specific mentions (and his general loneliness levels) leads me to think that his home life is somewhat neglectful, but likely not on purpose. He probably has a "normal" household that doesn't have the time to pay much attention to him.

Kanon — We know next to nothing about her backstory. I get the feeling that she's better off than the boys, but how off her behavior is seems to hint at a highly sheltered childhood. I think her relationship with her family is overall decent, but her parents are the type of paranoid that means they've isolated her more than is healthy.

Yakobu — He also gives me "childhood neglect" vibes. My headcanon is that he's from a large family that's struggling to get by, and the sheer amount of kids to manage means that Yakobu had to stand out to get any attention. His relationship with his family isn't bad, exactly, but he definitely doesn't have a stable or reassuring home life.

Dentaku — Considering his single-minded focus on mathematics and his apparent lack of social skills or ability to form emotional connections, I see yet another neglect case here. It's likely that he's been encouraged to stick to only his academic skills (at the cost of a normal childhood) as that gives him some chance of a better future.

Raizou — All we see of his family is his dad, who's... well-intentioned, probably, but far from supportive or kind. I think he's a single father who's trying his best, but is also strict, harsh, and has very firm ideas of how his son is supposed to behave. He's also clearly one for physical discipline, which means Raizou is at least used to being hit.

Zera — And here, things take a massive turn for the worse! Zera absolutely despises his family, and the level of emotional neglect and abuse he's experienced is a lot of why he's Like That. He has divorced parents, abandonment issues from his father, and routine mistreatment from his mother. Zera knows he's not wanted.

Nico — We know he has the worst financial state of the kids, and his mother literally says "giving birth to you was the biggest mistake of my life" when he was in the hospital post-eye incident. And judging from his utter lack of self-esteem, it's not hard to guess he's grown up in an environment where his existence was treated like a burden.

Jaibo — Uhhhh... yeah. We know his dad is a doctor (and that Jaibo steals drugs and money from him), and Jaibo's everything hints at extreme sexual abuse. I don't think it's a stretch to assume he's had the most horrific childhood of the kids, and I can't imagine he has anything resembling a positive relationship with his father.

"Worst" Relationship

#Litchi Hikari Club #Lychee Light Club #Zera #Tsunekawa Hiroyuki #Nico #Ishikawa Naritoshi #Ichihashi Raizou #Kaneda Riku #Dentaku #Suda Takuzou #Dafu #Tabuse Katsuya #Tamiya Hiroshi #Yakobu #Yamada Kobuhei #Jaibo #Ameya Norimizu #Miharu Kanon #Most to Least #Analysis

[draugsresurrection]

Draug's Resurrection 1.2.1

1.2.1 marks the addition of a whole new tab to the main menu, called Passives. It introduces a new way to upgrade your character, by Enhancing Spells/Skills along various basic attributes (MP Cost, Damage, Recharge Time, etc). In the original design for DR, every spell had five versions as you learned it, each with steadily improving stats. That's why the spell learning is broken into five sections like that. This addition harkens back to that idea, but makes it a bit more specialized and puts some player control into it.

Passive Abilities is also part of the earlier mentioned Passive tab, and gives characters boosts in more specific circumstances, like when surrounding an enemy, making Buff spells hit all allies but take much longer, or make an archer-type characters do more damage when performing their scarce few Direct attacks or while standing in the middle of the battlefield. About 70% of these Abilities have been completed right now, although they're naturally the less mechanically complex ones. Which generally means less interesting, too. They're all visible, just the ones that aren't done cost 99 Points to equip, of a maximum possible 50 or so.

The Passive tab also lets you see character's support status with each other (now called Unities), and now raises characters' elemental defenses as well.

Along with new upgrade routes comes more weapon types, also giving you a higher total maximum level. I was always dissatisfied that some mid-late Skills were created, some didn't actually end up on weapons themselves, and had to be Personal Skills (notably Rapier-oriented Clear Thrust and Lance-oriented Joust). First came Flamberges and Sarissas, then Chimes as a heavy physical Staff weapon (though they were Maces for a bit, until Macana came along and gave a decent non-Bash option for Maces), and the rest shortly fell into place.

Some of those new weapons have some of 25 new Spells and Skills added, many of which are focused on Terrain Effects, Movement Skills, and Enhancements. The existing Terrain Effects are now stored on the tile, rather than the caster, making them more versatile than before, and some fights now start with Terrain Effects already in place.

Minor, but probably really useful to everyone who isn't me. Pulling up the Battle Log can now also give you access to a nifty lil' reference of any active Ailments or the like currently active in the battle. It can expand to be bigger if it's a really convoluted battle.

The last big new thing is the ability to remove Draug from the party. Storywise, nothing changes, but it's great news if you didn't like the defensive-oriented playstyle Draug prefers, or just want to level your characters more evenly.

Actually, the really big last thing should be the end of the game crashing due to memory issues. I don't fully understand all of it, but older programs had a cap of how much Memory they could use, usually 1-2 GB. The cap has been editted to now be 4 GB. Why it was hitting 1GB at all is still a mystery to me, but considering a could run a random given game from ~2000 and it'll also hit 600+ MBs of RAM (despite their recommended requirements back in the day being about a tenth that), it's something about how modern PCs run… something. I dunno. I don't really get it. Regardless, issue should be fixed realistically forever.

It didn't amount to anything, but I would like to make a brief footnote here that I seriously played with the idea of doubling the resolution of Draug's Resurrection, but ultimately went against it. In part because a lot of things are hardcoded in a way that would make that not great, but mostly because it seems like certain resolutions simply cause the game to freeze, and it seems machine dependant. Disappointing, especially as boards looked way better when viewed further back, but the stability risk was just too great.

In more normal news, Alternate outfits have been expanded a fair bit over the year, with most characters having two alternates and their default. Since that's honestly probably the most interesting thing to look at, I'll end this post with a few characters, showing of all their outfits.

Download still available on itch.io.

#draug's resurrection #rpg #gamedev #indie game dev #screenshot

[orxngecrxshback]

Hello! [apologies in advance if this ends up long] I've been doing an ABSURD amount of digging to find the definition for the term Moonboy that you coined. I looked through some questions you answered so I know you lost access to your blog orxngecrxsh [rip] but I saw you mention that a lot of your terms were reposted on Pinterest and I'm 99% sure that I've found Moonboy on there, but now there's no trace. So now to my actual question: Do you still have the definition? Or: do you know the names of Pinterest accounts who've reposted your terms so I can search through them? [since sometimes searching for terms won't work but they still exist on the poster's page] The users for literally any amount of people will be a huge help, I've spent months on this and I'm too stubborn to not find the definition again. If I do succeed in finding it I'll probably repost it here on Tumblr so others can see it [with one million percent credit].

hey! sorry for the late response, i was away from my phone for about 2 weeks lol. i’ll try to answer all questions you have well:

first, a lot of the genders i posted have definitions that simply replace a few words from the other. for things like starboy/girl and moonboy/girl, the definitions of each were the same with masculine and feminine swapped respectively. i unfortunately don’t still have the definitions, but a search for ‘orxngecrxsh moongirl’ on google led me to another mogai blog’s reblog of the gender, which had the definition. this is moongirl, so the definition of moonboy would be:

a gender that is masculine and has strong connections to the moon! this gender feel cold, chilly, and dimly lit!

i hope that helps /gen!

[i’ve now realized after typing it all out that you were only asking about moonboy and not our terms in general ; _ ; . i’m keeping the following section in this ask in case any other person wants to find and/or repost some genders, but ignore it if you don’t!!)

second, i don’t know many pinterests that have my terms, and the one link to a board of them that i was sent has since broken, so i can’t find you a full list, but from a search of “orxngecrxsh” on pinterest (+ a few specific terms i remember) i have gathered a few links to my terms, and therefore accounts that may have more: deadgirl deadboy boyfuck girlfuck hibernatio sunnia moonio cringetentionean sunflouille diancigender bunilacean plaisirpetitic omuic musidaydreamic lavalampgender yellopidocsix salmonsushian genderwitherose statiroidic, and ough, so many more that i can’t list here.

anyways, i really appreciate you reposting the terms you have and fully support you doing so. i’ve lost a large amount of my interest in mogai and have no motivation to repost or search in-depth for our old terms, but am so glad to see some of them accessible again.

to anyone else interested in finding and/or posting old terms, i do still have a decent number archived in my notes app, some even with flags, so just dm or send an ask if you’re looking for anything in particular!

#ask

[utilitycaster]

I'm in the mood to rant and between the fix-it-fic post I made and the "you should, perhaps, be familiar with the source material post" I reblogged (and the horrendous comments on said post) and the scathing goodreads reviews I'm going to talk about why so many of these fics are terrible.

Here is the thing. Some writing is bad. Some writing is good. There's room for opinion; there's styles that are grating to some, and there's a reason why someone who loves Nabokov may loathe Hemingway or vice versa; but those two still have coherent styles and the ability to craft a good sentence. It's just a matter of whether the sentence is five words or fifty.

However, writing is more than just pretty words put together in some kind of coherent order. You write to communicate. Even when you are trying to be deliberately oblique it is deliberate. There's intent. There's something you are trying to convey or elicit through being oblique. Even when you write things down for yourself to straighten out your thoughts you're writing them down for an audience, for a purpose.

Conventions exist because of this. There are ways to ensure you convey something to the intended audience, because they've seen the pattern before and understand what it means. There is a reason why we can read Shakespeare's 400-odd year old plays and enjoy them, and it's because the way things unfold, with hints and beats and foreshadowing and dramatic irony, are fairly universal in how people process information and the world around them. Because this is a blog that's largely about D&D and actual play: this is why we "see" death flags and foreshadowing in an improvised medium: we know the conventions so well that we interpret chance and happenstance as fitting within them. We put the intent in even if it wasn't there.

So for fix-it-fics: If the work met the bare minimum of "adequately executed" and was successfully finished without interruption, that intent is woven throughout the story. There's foreshadowing there; there are character choices and themes and consequences. There's a lot of work that was done to lead to that ending, whether or not you liked the ending. The ending is part of the story and the rest leads there. Fix-it-fics are therefore nearly always poorly grafted on to a story that doesn't support the new "fixed" ending. The threads don't match up, the patterns clash, and it looks terrible.

This is most notable in my opinion with tragedies. A lot of people don't like tragedies. I think those people are weak and boring but they're allowed to hold that opinion; the problem is that tragedy is a genre and a good tragedy - one that's good enough to get the people who say they don't like tragedies to watch it - knows it. People die in tragedies and the story says it will happen, it promises it will happen, and subversion of that isn't interesting; it's a disappointment. Subversion and playing with genre are a bit like tightrope walking: if someone has put immense practice into it and knows what they're doing, it looks incredible. Most people don't and they'll be lucky if all they do is fall on their ass.

Now there are works that are poorly executed but had an interesting premise (these often fall into the category of "something external happened and cut the story off or forced an unintended change" - abruptly canceled TV shows, for example) but it takes a decent amount of skill to recognize that and distinguish it from a work that is simply bad through and through, and it takes even more skill to match the good parts of that premise.

Another thing worth noting is that fanfiction specifically is usually character-centric. That's what the tags are about and what people are searching on; that's usually why people want something fixed. The thing is, those characters are part of that weave of the story. If you try to make them go in a different direction, you often lose the character in the process. It is painfully obvious when someone doesn't like a character or doesn't understand how to write them.

I will defend fanfiction to people who get snobby about it in general because I think it's one of the best ways to learn voice and tone in writing, through trying to match an existing character - but you have to actually put in the work to do so. Otherwise it begs the question "why didn't you just write a new story that isn't beholden to all these restrictions?" and usually the answer is "because I want the audience, so I made these vaguely character-shaped OCs", or else "because I wanted my favorite character to do something that they didn't and which tbh probably wouldn't have made sense for them to do." And to be clear: you can do this, because you can write for an audience of you and people who already agree with you. But when other people say the story is sloppy and the writing is bad - not on your specific badly and sloppily written story but just in general - they're probably right.

Again: you can write and read fluffy self-indulgent nonsense. That's fine. No one is stopping you. I have my own comfort reading and it's not Nabokov nor Hemingway, let me tell you. But - and this is important - if you can't tell the difference between "I have an emotional attachment to this" and "this is objectively well-written" you are going to be a terrible writer. To do that, you need to understand the difference between "did the story achieve what it was intending to do" and "did the story do what I wanted it to do." And that in turn requires understanding what the story was intending to do, and plenty of people don't make it that far.

#honestly the biggest thing is like. you can't be a good writer if you're a bad listener #and if you can't listen to criticism or what the original story was telling you? yeah your writing is going to be bad. #it's also like. it is VITAL you be able to separate what is good (in the sense of done well) from what you like

[purplekoop]

Still trying to put together my class/hero shooter concept and getting irrationally upset that each character doesn't feel perfect. y'know, in the video game that exists exclusively in my head.

Bold giving Overwatch credit for much of anything nowadays, but it does exceptionally well in having such a large lineup of characters, all of which have distinctively defined ability sets that consist of unique abilities with very minimal overlap. Even when abilities do overlap, usually the context makes them distinct. Rein and Brig have very similar shield mechanics, but the fact that one is a massive ultrawide rectangle on a massive tank character and the other is a slim shield that only covers the body of the marginally above-average-sized support character means they don't feel redundant (in addition to the additional mechanics unique to each of them).

Going back specifically to my project, still tentatively titled "War Bots", there's the benefit of having a smaller roster (15/20 characters compared to OW's 21 on initial launch and 38 as of this moment). Plus, considering it's an original cast, there's not just free room but a necessity for basic "genre standard" archetypes like "the rocket launcher guy" and "the basic healer". However, War Bots has the distinct issue of its Loadout system. To paraphrase, imagine Overwatch hero kits, but you can swap weapons/abilities to customize your playstyle. somewhere between TF2's weapon system and something like Smash 4's custom special moves. This allows for more niches to be filled with a smaller roster (for instance, instead of having Soldier 76, Widowmaker, and Ashe all be separate characters, just have one character who's just "the rifle guy"), but it also means more creativity is needed to make every single aspect of each character's kit feel distinct not just in its own context, but in all the options for all the characters.

There's also the fact that I don't think the characters feel cohesive with themselves enough. The gameplay identities don't feel strong enough, and the abilities put together don't hold to the same scrutiny as, again, something like Overwatch. Once you've played the game for even a modest amount of time, you get into the natural flow of how abilities in a hero's kit synergize with each other and can be paced out in a way that leaves you with minimal downtime if you play properly. Even as a fairly average player, it's easy to find those moments where your abilities click together and you can time them just right off of their cooldowns, hopping from the safety of one action to another just in the nick of time, in a way that feels almost effortless once you get even just a decent grasp on it. The few abilities that stick out from this are notable, like Venom Mine or Petal Platform, being too niche to really warrant using as much as possible. Not saying there's never room for those kinds of abilities, but they need to be accommodated for. Venom Mine works on Widowmaker, a character who's not exactly hurting for a secondary means of damage output, while Petal Platform is/was arguably the biggest thing holding back Lifeweaver, since its utility is so comparably specific compared to what most other Supports offer.

To summarize: I'm rambling. To summarize a little better, there's a lot to designing gameplay for characters for a game like Overwatch, and those examples like Overwatch are admirable in how well they design characters as both parts of a larger cast and self-contained cohesive experiences. Which is why it's daunting to try and design a roster like that myself, even just in the current stage of theory because my ability to commit to projects is atrocious and Unity is still spooky.

In the most sincere summary: I should probably be thinking about something else right now.

#koop's oc stuff #war bots

[sewermageboy]

Tav Companion Ask Attempt #2! 😂General: 2, 6, Romance: 6

In reference to this ask meme. Hopefully this attempt will be more successful than the last one lmao ^^

General:

2. Do the other companions have special comments or reactions upon recruiting your Tav?

Astarion: "You know, it's always useful to have a drow on your side. Even if this one seems rather... tame."

Gale: "Hyacinth seems to have been around for quite a long time. We can only stand to benefit from their knowledge, and their skills."

Lae'zel: "I heard that drow were famous for their proficiency with stealth and poisons. This one appears to be more of a songbird than a fighter."

Wyll: "Hyacinth seems like a decent sort. They've got quite the moves, too, be it on the battlefield or the dance floor."

Karlach: "You know I saw Hyacinth perform a few times, back when I was still a kid? Didn't understand just how dirty their songs were back then, of course, but I'm sure they've cooked up a few new ones in the last decade."

Shadowheart: "You certainly keep interesting company. I don't know how much we should rely on the support of a drow, but they at least seem to be entertaining enough."

6. Do they have any secrets that can be revealed?  What are the prerequisites for this secret coming to light?

Their biggest secret is that they have a daughter, Calliope. While Cal's father Ben raises her mostly by himself, with Hyacinth posing as godparent, they still care for her very much and would give pretty much anything to keep her safe.

For the PC to find out about this, they either have to go to Jaheira's house and meet her family, or possess a certain amount of gold (probably at least 1000 gold, which is easy enough in Act 3). They also need at least Good approval from Hyacinth for them to trust the PC enough to reveal Cal's existence, and ask for help to get her and Ben out of Baldur's Gate, to keep them safe from whatever destruction the fight against the brain will inevitably cause.

Romance:

6. How do they react to the player character breaking up with them, or choosing another character over them?

Regular breaking up: "Ah. A shame. I did quite enjoy our time together, you know. It felt real. But it's probably best to call it quits now, lest it turn into an act, too. I wish you well."

If the PC breaks up with them for one of the others, they'll be amicable enough, hiding their own hurt feelings behind humor and wishing them the best. The only exceptions to that is Minthara, where Hyacinth would be unable to fully hide their bitterness over it and make a dig about the PC having a thing for drow, that they should be careful around her and never let down their guard.

#oc: hyacinth #ask game #my tav #bg3 tav